The End of An Era

For the past 10 years or so my sister and I have lived near each other.  It started in Utah when we were both in college – she at Brigham Young University (go Cougars) and me at University of Utah (Utes all the way).  I mention the team references because in Utah the BYU vs. U of U rivalry is legendary.  Not that we care of course, just thought I’d throw it in there.

Before Tracy came to school, she visited me when I lived in North Salt Lake.  She was about 16 at the time and I had just gotten my cat, Sophie.  I remember we went to see The Sixth Sense at the movie theater.  Other than that, I don’t remember a lot about the trip except that we had fun.

(Yes I was sunburned here.  I’m happy to say that that was the last time I’ve ever gotten sunburned – I’ve come to my senses and now wear sunblock.)

If memory serves me correctly, she came out again for another visit before she actually moved there.  We spent the time visiting the sites of downtown Salt Lake,

and we even climbed Mt. Timpanogos to see inside the caves.

That was a big deal considering neither one of us really liked being outdoors doing the whole nature thing.

These visits helped because by the time Tracy moved from Georgia to Utah to attend school, she was already familiar with the area and was excited to make it permanent.  I remember the day that we helped move her into the dorms.  She was so happy to be there!

I was just happy to have her in the same state again.

Unfortunately for us, however, Salt Lake is 45 minutes away from Provo so we didn’t get to see each other as often as we would have liked and we were both pretty busy.

She was busy going to classes and enjoying college life.

And I was busy working and well, mostly just working, in Salt Lake.

But we got together when we could like the time we visited friends in North Ogden,

or when we attended the SmashMouth concert on opening night of the 2002 Winter Olympics.

We spent time visiting cool places like Park City,

or even cooler places like my apartment.

But as with all good things, it eventually came to an end.  Winter of 2003 I accepted an internship that would take me to Washington, DC.

So we loaded up my car (and I do mean loaded up) and we drove for three days and two nights across the country.  To this day, I can’t hear N’Sync and Avril Lavigne and not think of my sister – that trip was one of my fondest memories.

I was sad to be so far away as Tracy had to go back and finish school.  But I wasn’t sad for long because as soon as she graduated later that year, she moved out to DC.  We didn’t live together, but we lived close enough that we were able to see each other often.

We spent hours hanging out in my little Dupont Circle apartment,

we went to baseball games,

and we ate dinner at new restaurants.  She even got us to eat Thai food!

We have had a lot of great times over the past several years

and we’ve experienced some life-altering events such as my wedding:

and then hers:

both of which eventually led to our simultaneous pregnancies:

Which a few months later led to this:

Over the past ten years we’ve seen and done a lot.  But now, I’m sorry to say, that is changing as my sweet sister, her dear husband, and their precious baby Drew, have moved away.  Grad school awaits and for the first time in years, we won’t be in the same area.  No more hanging out at our house with Oscar (he misses you terribly, btw).

And no more Sunday night dinners in our basement or quick shopping trips to the local mall.  It truly is the end to an era.

Thankfully, because of the modern world of technology, I know she’s just a quick text or Skype call away, but somehow it’s not quite the same.

I hope that one day soon that will change and we’ll live in the same area again, especially now that we have little ones who need to be friends.  But until then, Sis – I miss you.  It sure has been a great 10 years!

I can’t wait for the next 10…